The Chinese Connection
by Fox Trot 9
Summary: In Hong Kong, Wang Wei needs help re-establishing his dojo after a ten-year hiatus. The trouble is that someone's interfering in his plans, so Wang Wei hires Team 7's Naruto Uzumaki as well as others to help. R & R. Discontinued.
1. Enter the Warrior's Square

Title: The Chinese Connection.

Author: Fox Trot 9.

Rated: M.

Adventure/Suspense/Humor.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or Street Fighter.

Story Arch 1: The Art of Courage.

Master: A trip of a thousand li starts with one step.  
Student: But after that, how do you know where it leads?  
Master: You don't. All you can do is keep on walking.

[Pilot: The Way of the Warrior.]  
Prologue 1: Enter the Warrior's Square.

The beginning of this story happened over ten years ago, some time in the late ninteen-ninties. When and where this happened, everybody should know--at least, everybody old enough to know who the Three Immortals of the Warrior's Square were should know. But for those of you who don't, this began shortly after the Kumite awarded its winner, Huo Li, the greatest Drunken Fist boxer since Wong Fei Hung, at the legendary Warrior's Square where all other Kumites were held. Of course, not everyone knows where this Warrior's Square was; only those in the know knew where it was, which is a few. And the only way to get there was by an anonymous invitation from someone already in the know. But enough of that. Let's get back to what happened.

It began when Huo Li established the Chung Mun dojo in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, north of Hong Kong Island. Aided with the help of his long-time friend and rival, Wang Wei, the two attracted many followers. That changed when many of the students' families got warnings and threats in their mail boxes to leave Huo Li's dojo. So half the students left, about fifty of them, while the other half stayed. Those that stayed would regret their decision.

The first attack happened in the morning to a student named Temujin. Of all the students in Huo's dojo, he was known as "Tardy" Temujin because he rarely got to class on time, but he usually got a break. He lived farther away from the dojo than his peers, so his tardies would cost him littler more than thirty minutes of practice time, but this time it would cost him much more.

As usual, he was running and had good stamina because of it. But when he turned left and sprinted up the steps leading to the dojo, he saw a young man with black and blond hair, black shirt, black jacket, black pants and black shoes sitting on the steps.

Temujin didn't think much of him while running up until the man said, "You know it's dangerous running up and down the steps like that. You might trip and fall."

Temujin stopped and looked back at him. "Don't worry; I run up and down these steps every day."

"Eh, suit yourself then," the man said. "By the way, I'm kind of lost. You know where I could find a mom-and-pop store around here?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. It's two or three blocks down the street to your left."

"Can you show me? I'm new here, and I don't really know anybody."

"Uh..." said Temujin, "I'm kind of late right now."

"You can point the way, can you?"

"Okay, sure," and the boy went down the steps to point the way. Nothing against being considerate, right? "Follow me."

That's the moment when the man attacked him, the moment he had his back to him. Temujin felt the sole of the man's foot slam into his back, causing him to tumble to the bottom of the steps. He was winded and bleary-eyed, sustaining bruises and scrapes on his forearms, kees and shins. And when he tried to get up, he felt the same foot slam into his ribs, _repeatedly_.

"You should know enough to not turn your back on me," and he emphasized the point with one kick to the back of the kid's ribs. Then he walked off like nothing happened.

The kid was really battered up and barely able to move, sustaining bruised (if not broken) ribs. He was motionless for a hour, then two, and would have stayed that way had not Chiara and Daniel worry about him and come down the steps to look for him.

The two couldn't believe their eyes. "Oh my God! Temujin, are you all right?" said Chiara, turning him onto his back. Of course, Temujin barely responded.

Chiara didn't have to tell Daniel to get help, for he bolted up the steps and came back with Huo and the other students. Temujin went to the hospital, while his parents got furious. In fact, they sued Huo and his family for reparations, which he assented to despite his own family's objections. Huo blamed himself for the kid's injuries and took full responsibility for them. Cops were called, Temujin was interviewed, but the assailant got away with his crime. This stained Huo's reputation and his dojo with fear, the kind of fear that took away whatever security he had for his students and for himself.

When Wang Wei heard of this, he hired three bouncers, tough-looking dudes who knew how to intimidate. One of them was a former kick-boxer, a fifteen year veteran of Hong Kong's fighting scene; the two others were from two nightclub hotspots. It was good enough to deter most troublemakers without burdening the police force to "act as body guards" for a bunch of kids, as the police phrased it over the phone. Wang Wei also instructed the students to come to and from class in three groups no smaller than ten members, because "_there is __always strength in numbers_," as he explained it. This also improved morale in Huo's students and prevented tardies. Also, Huo would see one group of kids on their way home while two of the bouncers would see the two other groups to their homes. Wang Wei and the third bouncer would see to securing the dojo to prevent any beak-ins or vandalism. These measures served their purposes well, and for three months after the first attack there were no incidents whatsoever.

That is, until the next attack happened one afternoon after practice session was over. The three groups of students went down the steps, two groups (accompanied by the two bouncers) turning right up the road toward their houses, while the other group (accompanied by Huo) went the opposite way down the road. As Huo's group of eleven kids kept walking and talking amongst themselves, they came across a man that did not match the black attired description of the first one. Huo looked at him as he passed. Work boots, dirty jeans, a tank top, a bandana wrapt around his head; this guy looked like some out-of-town construction worker, but there was no construction site anywhere near his dojo.

Then this man walked up to Huo saying, "Are you the owner of that dojo?"

"Who wants to know?"

"I heard about the kid who got beat up a few months ago." Now that was suspect.

All the kids got frightened, gathering behind Huo. "You-you son of a--"

"Whoa, whoa, you got the wrong guy. I'm not the one, okay?"

"Prove it."

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened to that kid, all right?" The man held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just here to give these kids some protection."

"We already have some security."

"Not from whoever attacked that first kid. Heard whoever attacked him was really dangerous, like he's some yakuza- or triad-dude. I'm not you're enemy, all right."

"You really wanna help?"

"I'll do whatever I can, trust me."

Huo thought about including him but not for long. A few students from the other two groups came running, huffing and puffing and scared. "What happened?"

"Someone's--" Breath. "attacked--" Breath. "everybody!" said one student.

Huo started up the road but looked back at the stranger he just met.

"Don't worry, I'll protect these kids, all right?" the man said.

Now reassured, Huo ran up the road and met the awful sight of several students sitting on the curb with bumps and bruises. Some of them were lying down and bleeding from their mouths. Wang Wei was there, too, tending to them with whatever he had. The two bouncers were also lying on the curb and bleeding, slowly turning black and blue. Huo walked up to his friend.

Wang Wei said, "I've already called the cops. They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Where's Xin?" Xin was the third bouncer.

"He went after the attacker. I told him not to, but he went anyway. Did you--" Just then, a police cruiser rode in, sirens flashing. "see the other kids home already?"

"Someone's already--" Then an ambulance came up, followed by another police cruiser. "seeing them home."

"You let someone else do it?"

Before Huo said anything, two cops came and talked to both of them. Huo was in disbelief; everything seemed to be stuck on overdrive--first, the stranger offering help; then the frantic kids; then these beaten up kids and bouncers; then the cops; then the medics; then these questions. It was pure chaos. He could barely hear what they were saying. Then he heard the worst sound any teacher could possibly dread to hear: the scream of a thousand screams ringing in his ears. Then he saw two more cops, their guns drawn, heading back down the road where he had left his group of kids unaccompanied with _that_ stranger. Then he saw yet another police cruiser riding in, followed by another ambulance. Then he felt the sickening feeling of dread lurch in his stomach.

Huo thought, _Good God, no!_

Yes, you probably guessed what happened to Huo's group of kids. Whoever _they_ were, they worked in teams. One scouted the area which they planned to harass, while the other set the chain of events in motion, and this attack, a double event, was no different. In fact, it's what you'd call _divide and conquer._ The construction worker, or so Huo thought, fooled him into trusting him; so when the other attacker, the one dressed in black, raised the sirens, Huo left the kids to a wolf in disguise. He was devastated by this, humiliated even. Huo Li, the winner of the legendary Kumite, the scion of the famous Li clan, could not protect those students whom he had promised to their parents to protect.

As for Xin, the bouncer who pursued the attacker in black, he was found hours later unconscious on the street corner of Xianpen and Avery, his ribs broken and his skull cracked. Though he was alive, he didn't come out of his coma for another four weeks afterward. By then, he had forgotten everything about the incident, even under hypnosis. The police followed other leads the students provided, like the descriptions of these two attackers, where they last saw them, and the like but this, too, lead the investigation nowhere. After six months of fruitless leads and further interviews, the police all but gave up on the search, placing the case on standby to be worked on every six months.

If that wasn't enough, Huo was under legal fire. Several of his students' parents sued and he and his family were pressured to pay for the reparations. Besides, the Li family was rich, so why not take out their frustrations on the family of that irresponsible teacher? Of course, Huo paid; it was the least he could do. But life was hell for his family at this point, for his wife, for his four daughters, for his niece, but most of all for his son. Even the Li clan elders frowned on his actions, because they "threatened the integrity of the Li family name," as they put it.

Then came the threatening phone calls and notes in _Huo's_ mail, which would lead to his demise. Though Huo had friends who offered their support, most of all Wang Wei, he became paranoid, even vengeful. So by hell or high water, he vowed to kill those two God damn bastards, if not for his shattered pride than for his family's safety. He issued a challenge to his tormentors, written in his own hand, and stuck it to the door of his dojo, designating the place where the stakes should be settled. He wouldn't have to wait for long, because two weeks later he found the challenged accepted with the rules and the time of engagement pinned to it. Indeed, Huo wanted revenge.

And the cops were in on it, too. The sting operation was set.

_No turning back now_, Huo thought, the very night the sting will take place, the night of his death.

His children and wife were in bed, while he and Wang Wei were up and talking in the patio. Huo saw the sky full of stars on a cloudless night but no moon. No moon meant that no raise reflected on the ground, and thus everywhere outside the dojo would afford cover. That was a double-edged sword.

"Huo," said Wang Wei, "I've never known you to back down from any fight, but think about your future. Think about your wife and your children's future. What will they do if you _die_ in this sting? What will I say to them?...What will I do?"

"Tell my family that I've done everything I could to protect them."

"But, what if there's another--?"

"There _is_ no other way! This hatred, this..._vengeance_ that courses through my veins must end with me, alive...or dead. You're the only one I can entrust my family to. Please."

"I-I can't bear such a burden on my own."

"Then have my wife bear it with you, but let none of this hatred reach my children's ears."

"But she will be crushed."

"Then become her strength."

"But I--"

"Wei, I've asked many things of you in the past, but now I'm not asking you, I'm _pleading_ you to protect my family."

Wang Wei sighed and assented. "What about the dojo?"

"Close that God-forsaken dojo. It is a curse to me," and before Wang Wei could say anything, he got up and proceeded to the door.

But something stopped him. Huo knew in his heart that he may not see his family again while still alive, so he went into his family's sleeping quarters to see them. First he went into his daughters' bedroom, saw all four daughters sleeping so peacefully despite everything. He brooded over which of them will marry first, thinking of the weddings, the cakes, the whole shenanigans that come with such occasions. Then he went into his son's bedroomed who shared it with Huo's niece. They were both spirited beyond their five living years, and he hoped to high heaven that both will grow stronger than Huo himself ever was, especially Syaoran, who will some day be the head of the Li clan.

Last but not least, he went into his wife's bedroom and saw her sleeping, no nightmares, no fidgets, not talking in her sleep, and thus no premonitions. He thought about the first time he met her, the first time she blushed, the first time they made love; so he wanted to kiss her on the forehead, but he thought better not to wake and worry her. After that, he said a prayer for all of them and was about to leave, about to walk into what would be his undoing when he heard someone calling for him.

It was his son, Syaoran. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go somewhere," he said, "somewhere that I can't tell you, but I must go."

"Is it the Warrior's Square?"

Huo nodded.

Syaoran began crying. "I thought you won already? I don't want you to go."

"I must go." He sighed. "Syaoran, I promise I'll be back. Don't worry about me."

"Promise me?" Syaoran held out his hand.

He smiled at his son, like that was the funniest thing he's heard all day. "Since when has your old man ever broken a promise to you?"

"Never."

"And I won't start now, believe it," and he touched Syaoran's hand and kissed him on the forehead, kissed him so he could go to sleep, which he did. When he went out he saw Wang Wei, who watched the scene, and said, "Whatever happens tonight, do everything you can to protect my family."

Wang Wei nodded. And with that, Huo left the household and went to the unmarked police cruiser parked a block away from the Li mansion, waiting for him.

When he got in, the look out officer, dressed in plain clothes, said, "Are you ready to bag these bastards?"

"Hell yes. Let's do this."

So they went without horns or sirens, and when they got to the dojo, everything was set. A SWAT team was positioned a couple of feet from the dojo, hidden in the shrubbery that bordered both sides. Another SWAT team was in the unmarked van, parked near the perimeter of the steps leading to the dojo. The cop was in his car parked several yards away so he won't look suspicious to anyone. Now with Huo in the dojo, all they needed were the two bastards to show up at two-thirty a.m., the time these bastards specified. So they waited, and waited, and waited--now two, now five...now ten minutes behind schedule--, and they waited till it seemed these two were no-shows. Then one of them came, the one posing as a construction worker, carrying what looked like a heavy baton at his side.

_That's one, so where's the other?_ the cop thought, looking around. _Where the hell's the other guy--I thought he'd be with him?...Aw, shit!_

That's when he knew it was a trap. He got out to warn the operations chief in the van but got scared and went back in, then flicked the switch to radio the others. But he never used it. The missing assailant stabbed him in the kidney area but not before he cupped the cop's mouth to prevent him from screaming. Then he wrapped his arm around the cop's neck and twisted. If there were any passersby, they would have taken the snapping of a human neck for a twig.

_One down, more to go_, thought the assailant. _This will be fun_.

The one carrying the baton ambled up the steps and into the dojo, where Huo was waiting. Both SWAT teams saw the man with the baton coming and waited for the other one to come, but he didn't come. Thus they had to wait--that is, wait until the other man came, or wait until the cop in the cruiser to give the order, which would never come.

The SWAT team in the van thought they heard something, and five of them got out discreetly to investigate. One of them was the operations chief, dressed in plain clothes like his colleague in the cruiser. He looked at the cruiser where his colleague was stationed as look out and thought he was sleeping, so he radioed him. No response. He radioed him again and got the same answer: nothing. The operations chief didn't know his colleague was already dead. He and his four guys walked toward the car, saw the man resting his head on the headrest of his seat and knocked on the window pane.

"Come on, Hiriyuki, wake up." No movement. "Damn it, man, get off your ass!" When he opened the door, he saw blood stains on the seat. He radioed, "Team Two, keeps your eyes peeled! The second man is armed and dangerous. Team Two, do you copy?" No response. "Do you copy?"

He didn't know Team Two was already dead. The operations chief and his boys got scared and ran up the steps leading to the dojo, where they got picked off, one by one, by a killer of silent, cold-blooded efficiency, who stabbed and slashed with his knife like an animal.

Now done with his gruesome task, the man in black stood over the operations chief whose face still showed the terror in his lifeless eyes. He got out a lighter and lit a cigarette, blowing smoke as he looked at the corpse below him on the steps.

He said, "Come on, man, why the surprise on your face? Here, have a cigarette," placing the cigarette in the operation chief's mouth, "and try relaxing for once."

Meanwhile, Huo saw the construction worker bastard with the baton enter his dojo, who slid the door closed behind him. Huo didn't bother to nod at him.

The man said, "I told you I'd protect them, but--"

"You're the one who attacked them, damn it!"

"And who's the one who failed to protect them?"

"Fuck you!" Even though Huo was pissed, he was also concentrating on the man's movement's--where he stepped, how he stepped, where and how he held his baton. Soon, he had a plan; all he need was to get a bit closer to his baton. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm not stupid, man."

"Then where's your friend?"

"Not falling for that one, either."

"Then what about _this_!" and Huo kicked the baton hard into the man's shins, toppling him over like a tree. Then he slammed his heaviest stomp onto the man's head, upending a few floor boards. Lucky for the man, Huo missed his head by mere inches as he got out of the way. The man was huffing by now. Then Huo assumed his drunken stance, eyes on his opponent like nobody's business. When it came to one-on-one fights, he was unstoppable; but this was different. He'd have to defeat this man quickly to get ready for the other one, the one in black that wielded the knife, or whoever he was. So he put his plan in motion.

When the man got up and rushed in, Huo faked and got hold of the baton, easily prying it away and swinging it round with all his strength back onto the guy's shin. Again, the guy fell, this time cursing "Fucking, God!" That was for Daniel's broken leg. Now he disgarded the baton, preferring to man-handle the bastard the way he deserved it: that is, in the worst way possible. When the man got up halfway, Huo threw him across the dojo, then ran toward him at full speed before baseball-sliding into the guy's ribs, the guy cursing again. That was for Temujin's broken ribs. And just for the hell of it, he even shinned the guy in the balls (not only for himself, but for the hell he put his own family through). Of course, the guy screamed--who wouldn't?

Now in pain from his shins to his balls, to his ribs, the man could barely move and was cursing like a bastard out of Viagra. "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING F--!"

But before the third f-bomb, Huo kicked him in the ribs, _again_, saying "Never underestimate your opponent, you son of a bitch!" After that, he yanked back the guy's head and wrapped his arm around it, ready to twist it off the socket, ready to end his tormentor's life the way he planned, to reap half of the revenge he would reap tonight, to right half the wrongs so wrongfully done to his students, until...Until something outside caught his attention.

That's when the door slid open to show none other than the second assailant in the operations chief's clothes. The man had his right hand in the pocket of the overcoat, but Huo didn't notice it. "Don't do it, man. We'll take it from here."

"What? Have you any idea what this man's done?"

"I know how you feel, trust me. Personally, I'd rather have him scoured alive on a stake; but the law's the law, and we all have to follow it."

Huo was reluctant, but he relented. "Fine, do what you will with him! Did you get the other one?" he said, not knowing he was looking at the guy in question.

"Nope. The bastard never came up. We'll have to bag what we can get."

"All right. That's fine with me."

"We'll talk about this later. You got cuffs?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I forgot the cuffs running up here to see if you haven't killed him yet," he said, pointing to the guy on the floor. "We need to question him to find out where the other one's gone to."

Huo looked at him. "Does it look like I have cuffs?"

"No, but you can ask the guys outside if they have cuffs on them. I'll keep you're guy company."

"Are you sure? This man's still dangerous."

"It looks like you roughed him up pretty good by the looks of it. Don't worry; if the guy does anything suspicious, I'll drop him with my forty-four," he said.

That was reassuring enough, so Huo walked past him, not knowing that the "forty-four" in his pocket was really a switch blade. He walked out the door expecting to see SWAT members packing and leaving, but not this: around the dojo were bodies of murdered men in uniform. That's when he finally got the picture, but it was too late. A split-second later, Huo got tagged in the back of the knee with a knife, felling him onto his knees. A artery was severed, and he bleeding profusely.

After pulling it out, he looked back, back at the knife-weilding bastard who dyed his hair black, who took a cop's clothes, who took people's lives. "You son-of-a-bitch!"

"My mother has nothing to do with this. It's just business." (The other guy managed to get up with the help of his baton, and limped painfully toward his partner in crime. Huo tried to get up, but his bad knee gave out under him; he tried getting up again, this time on his good leg, and assumed his drunken stance as best as he could.) "You're really tough, I'll give you that much. Not many people can get up from a knife wound to the knee."

For Huo, it was hell standing up. Putting any weight on that bad knee felt apocalyptic at best, but he still kept his eye on the two men.

"Hand me your cane, Bill, and I'll take him out." "Bill" looked at him, reluctant to give it to him. "Look, you're not in the condition to perform this hit."

"All right, here, knock yourself out," and then "Bill" whispered into his ear, "Get him in the knee; this fucker deserves it." Then he sat down on the ledge of the dojo.

"What are you planning?" said Huo.

The guy in black holding the baton in his left hand said, "Don't worry, man; you'll know soon enough;" and he stretched his arm like a snake so fast you wouldn't believe your eyes and swung the baton on his lower leg. "Bill" just _had_ to wince at that.

His leg was almost completely taken off. To say Huo was in agony is an understatement; he was in the ninth level of Hell, and it only got deeper. He soon blocked out from the pain and the blood lose, but when he came to, he found himself with an arm around his neck, and his body pulled back into a painful kneeling position.

Then he heard a voice say, "Any last words?"

"F-fuck...you!"

"I'll let Geese know about it."

Huo felt his heart skip a beat. Was _he_ behind all this, the same guy who took control of South Town, the same guy who defied the great Tung Fu Rue, the same guy who killed Jeff Bogard? Was Geese spreading his tentacles to Hong Kong?

Then the man snapped his neck and let the body fall.

"Bill" clapped his hands and said, "Bravo, man, just bravo. I'm surprised you haven't taken my job yet." Then he got up but not before cupping his balls.

"Maybe you should have worn a jockstrap."

"Fuck you!"

A/N: This is my first story, so please be nice. And remember, this is a prologue to a Naruto crossover with different characters from other anime and games. You'll see Naruto soon enough. And review please. Let me know what you think.


	2. Enter the Warrior Within

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or Street Fighter.

Prologue 2: Enter the Warrior Within.

News of this incident spread through the media like a virus. And when the seven o'clock news aired, it aired with a Breaking News Alert of, "A dojo massacre: 2 SWAT teams and a prize fighter found dead at a local dojo in Hong Kong."

"This is Lei Fengling, reporting for Chen Kenichi. Now we open the hour with a horrible tragedy," said the anchor woman, "that happened this morning. We've heard some unconfirmed reports that around two dozen officers and a martial artist are found dead at the scene of Chung Mun dojo in Tsim Sha Tsui in the southern part of Kowloon, Hong Kong. So far, there is no mention made by police as to what exactly happened, whether it was a sting operation gone terribly wrong, or something else. All we know is that people are allegedly found dead at the Chung Mon dojo. I repeat, these reports remain unconfirmed until they are confirmed by our crew in the area." Then an update came. "Okay, now we have some of our reporters on the scene; and they have confirmed that two dozen police officers are indeed found dead at the scene. Of the martial artist on the scene, they haven't received any updates yet. Now I turn to Zhi Gujin. What do you have for us, Zhi?"

Gujin was at the foot of the steps, along with several other news reporters crowded around him, but not allowed to go futher. Police tape sectioned off the steps leading to the dojo as well as the area around it. "Are we on? Yes? Oh right, we have confirmed that around two dozen police officers are dead at the scene. Inspector Dorai has confirmed that bit, but he has not mentioned anything about the alleged martial artist, yet."

"Do you have any idea who that martial artist is?"

"No we do not. The inspector withheld that information from us, until (and I quote), 'this man's family has been notified of his passing,' (unquote). We don't know who that family is at the moment, but I will keep you updated as it happens."

"Any other information we should let our viewers know?"

"No, not yet, but I will keep you updated. This is Gujin signing off for now."

"Okay," said the anchor woman. "Such a tragedy. Let's pray for all the families of these fallen dead. On a much happier note, President Jiang Zemin's meeting with President Bill Clinton is going rather smoothly, but concerns still remain..."

Yelen Li turned off the television. That's when she began to worry about her husband, who didn't return home this morning.

Meanwhile, Wang Wei was off driving the kids to their schools, driving with his heart and mind racing for the whereabouts of his friend, trying everything he could to not worry the kids as he drove--but he worried about Syaoran in particular. Syaoran sat silent in the back seat, while his sisters were busy running their mouths about why their father wasn't here to drop them off.

Meiling said, "Syaoran, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I'm just worried about Dad."

Meiling looked at him. "You think he had a fight?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

Wang Wei shared Syaoran's worries but remained silent. He thought about the scene with Syaoran's father last night and prayed against hope, against God, against fate itself that Huo Li was all right. After he dropped the kids off and came home, his hopes faded when he saw two crown vics parked at the front of the house. He walked toward them and found two plain clothes officers greeting him.

"Hold it, now. Are you a friend?" one of them said.

"Yes, I just dropped off the children at their schools. Any news about Huo?"

The two cops looked at each other, then at Wang Wei, the same cop saying, "Huo? As in Huo Li?"

"Yes, he's a friend of mine. Any news?"

The cop hesitated, so the other one said, "It's not good, man. Huo may be...I'm sorry."

The two cops let Wang Wei enter the house, just as a news van came up the road and spotted the two officers. Out of the van came Gujin, microphone in hand, along with the camera man. The two cops knew that more media personnel would come, so they gave their comments, hoping to delay them in any way they could.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Wang Wei came upon Inspector Dorai, who gave the crying widower, Yelen Li, the terrible news. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Li. I wish I never involved your husband in any of this. You have my word: I'll do everything in my power to take down whoever did this."

"So it's true, isn't it?"

Inspector Dorai turned. "I'm afraid so, Wei. Do the kids know about this?"

"I'll let them know when I bring them back home."

"No." Inspector Dorai and Wang Wei looked at Yelen. "I'll let them know what happened to their father. I have to be strong for them, even when I can't be strong for m-my-s-self," and more tears streamed down her face.

Wang Wei went to her, placing his arms around her in a futile attempt to comfort her. As she cried into Wang Wei's shoulder, Inspector Dorai said, "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"What time?"

"After the funeral. Let's say, three months from now. Call me when your ready; you know my home phone number?" Wang Wei nodded yes. Then he left but before he did, he added, "And if you need anything else, just call. We'll be here for you."

"Will do."

When Inspector Dorai walked out of the Li household, he was met with a barrage of questions from the press. He said, "I can't say anything pertaining to what I said to anyone at this time. I can only say that we will do everything we can to bring who ever did this to justice;" then he asked the two police officers to stay put so things won't go out of hand, which they did.

Inspector Dorai left with a heavy heart, because he, Huo Li and Wang Wei were close friends, known to the world a decade before as the Three Immortals of the Warrior's Square. Indeed, once he thought the three of them _were_ immortal, invincible to all things with many dreams, fights and glories ahead of them, waiting for them like a prize to be taken; but as the years accumulated on their hearts and faces, when the best fights began to slip away from them, one of them was murdered. Dorai thought, _It's only a matter of time before they get to the rest of us, old friend_.

Back in the house, the scene was so tense you could go insane with grief. Wang Wei and Yelen were silent, trying to comprehend the most incomprehensible thought of their lives: the death of Huo Li, a good friend and a faithful husband. For Yelen, it was like a string snapping in her soul, something she had never experienced with anyone as close to her as Huo. She was quiet, trying to dry the tears from her face.

Then she said, "Wei, tell me the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"Don't lie to me, Wei!" she yelled, "I know Huo told you about his plans before he left, I just know it!"

"Huo promised me to protect you and the children, and I never intend to go back on that promise."

"But why didn't you tell me before hand?"

"I didn't want to worry you. _Huo_ didn't want to worry you."

"But I could have talked him out of it."

"I assure you, nothing would have prevented Huo from taking the course he took." Then she collapsed onto her knees and cried, so Wang Wei lowered himself and said, "Yelen...Yelen, please understand. He did what he did knowing the measures he took would protect your family."

Yelen looked at Wang Wei, her eyes now red with tears. "Do you believe he took the right course?"

"I'd be lying to you, if I said he didn't," he said, placing his hand over hers. "Yelen, I will do _everything_ I can possibly do to get you and the kids through this. I promised Huo by my own blood that I would never go back on me word. But promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"That you must be strong, not only for yourself but for your children, for they will need your strength and courage to endure this loss. Please, promise me this."

Yelen nodded yes, and they both hugged the most painful hug of grief in they could endure. "Please be here for me," she said.

"I will."

When Wang Wei brought the kids back from their schools, he had them sit in the living room, while Yelen prepared to give them the news about their father. Everyone was silent; even the four sisters stopped talking once they saw the look on their mother's face.

"Mom, what's wrong?" said Fuan Len (one of the sisters), sitting at the end of the couch.

"Are we in trouble?" said Fu Tie, the sister sitting beside her.

"No, it's not that," said Yelen. "It's...it's--"

"Is it about..." Syaoran struggled with the last word, "Dad?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is."

"Did you and Dad argue again?" said Fuei Mei, sitting next to Fu Tie.

"Oh please don't divorce him, Mom," said Tsue Fua, sitting next to Syaoran.

"I-I wish it could be that simple. Your--"

"But why do you have to leave him--"

"Meiling!" said Wang Wei, "listen to you aunt."

For the first time since she fell for Huo Li, Yelen could barely bring herself to speak. She could barely accept the fact her husband was dead, let alone break that news to her children, which would break their hearts. She wished she didn't have to tell them what happened, but she'd be lying if she did.

So with all the strength she could muster, she said, "Children, your father and I love each other very much, almost as much as we love you, but...he...he is gone now. He loved you all so much that he did everything he could do to protect you, and me, and this house. He loved all of you, and he'll always look over you from now on...in heaven..." At this point, tears flowed down Yelen's face. "He will always be with you...no matter what...Always remember that."

That's when they finally knew what happened; Huo died. Their loving father, who had survived many fights to come home to them like it was nothing but a picnic at the park, who had always cheered them up when they were down, will only be a memory from now on.

They all took it real hard, but Syaoran took it the hardest. He was the last to speak to his father, who promised his son he'd return, and he was naive enough to believe him. In his five-year-old mind, Syaoran _should_ be mad at his father, because he had broken his promise to him; but without a father to be mad at, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know why he was so mad in the first place, because he had never been this mad at his father before; even when he forgot to keep his promises, Syaoran always forgave forgot about it soon after. But this was different, less like a chiding and more like murderous intent, and that scared him. This feeling got so intense, he couldn't take it anymore and he ran into his room, shutting the door behind him, and cried his eyes out.

Yelen was about to go after him, but Wang Wei told her to stay with the girls and proceeded up the stairs. He knew exactly what Syaoran was feeling, which Huo warned him about. It was vengeance, something Syaoran was far too young to know.

"Can I come in?" he said when he reached the door.

"Go away" was the boy's response, but Wang Wei went in anyway. "I said go away! I don't want anything!"

"Syaoran. Syaoran, listen to me. Your father..."

"I said I don't WANT ANYTHING! I don't want to hear about my fa--"

"Syaoran, please! Your father never raised you to be that way."

"But he lied to me!"

"He did not lie to you; he did everything he could to keep his promise. He never broke his promise, I assure you." Then Syaoran looked at him. "Please, understand that your father wanted to be strong for you, so that you could be strong for yourself."

Then he began to cry again. "It's not fair, it's not fair!"

"I know it's not. Syaoran, please," now placing a hand on his shoulder the way a father does to comfort a son. "I-I cannot bear this burden on my own. Your...your mother is suffering. She needs you to be strong for her, because you're the man of the house, now."

The boy nodded and came back down the stairs with Wang Wei. In that moment, the space of less than a second, he grew up far beyond his years. His heart hardened little by little from that point onwards, because he didn't know what else he could do to stem the flow of tears. Then days passed, then one week, the two and so on.

On the Sunday of the fourth week since Huo's death (a Sunday when the not a cloud blocked the sunny stretch of sky for miles around), Syaoran got dressed for the funeral. He looked at himself in the mirror of his mother's dressing room and thought about everything that happened. The boy looking back at him in the mirror wasn't the innocent child he was when his father was alive; he was dejected, almost to the point of being cold. He didn't want to cry anymore, because his heart couldn't take it. So when he attended his father's funeral, Syaoran didn't cry a single tear. He wasn't revengeful or anything, just sad, like a part of him died along with his father. He bundled all these painful emotions into a ball and packed them into the wastebasket of his mind, where he hoped such pain will never again intrude into his life.

His mother was there and crying like all mothers do. Wang Wei was there trying to comfort her. His sisters were there, crying as well. Meiling was there, too, struggling the hold back the her tears in a vain attempt to be as strong as her cousin. Temujin was there leaning on his crutch, Daniel in his wheelchair with the cast on his leg--his girlfriend, Chiara,--standing with him, along with more of Huo's former students. Inspector Dorai was there, accompanied by his daughter whom Syaoran had never seen before. Just about everyone affected by this event was there at Huo's funeral. Sermons were recited, the prayers were offered to rest a fallen warrior's soul, and then the ceremony concluded. One by one, the mourners left, Huo's students, Huo's colleagues, Huo's family until Syaoran and Wang Wei were the only two left.

Wang Wei placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Your family's waiting for you."

The boy looked at him. "I just want to be with Dad a little longer."

So Wang Wei left him.

Syaoran, alone with his thoughts and his father, said one more silent prayer and cried the last cry he would ever allow himself to cry in his life.

*** *** ***

Three months after the funeral, Wang Wei entered Inspector Dorai's office at his residence in the Yuanji quarter just four blocks from the Kowloon Film Studio. His home also doubled as a Daoist temple and a training ground, where he teaches his own students (including his daughter, Chun-Li) in the ways of the peace-loving warrior. Wang Wei sat in front of his desk.

Dorai said, "How's the family doing?"

"They're doing fine. Syaoran's still a bit sulky, but he'll get over it. What do you want to talk about?"

"You know what it is. That sting was the worst operation I've had in since I joined this department, and by God, I will never let that happen _ever_ again. I tried to reason with Huo, but he didn't listen to me--you know how hardheaded he is--, and now he's nothing but dust in the wind." He sighed at that. "And this investigation has nothing to show for it. It's all my fault."

"And what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to help in this investigation."

Wang Wei should have seen that coming. "You can't be serious! You're planning another sting?"

"Nope. Stings won't work with these guys. These two are professionals, whose cunning goes much further than most of my department can muster on their own. These two must have planned their hits diligently and patiently, and that's the hardest kind of criminal to get, the thinking kind. God, why does it have to be two of them? And what's worse is that I think these two are but pawns in a much wider scheme. Whoever ordered these hits must have had years of planning and vested interest in this town. Wei, this isn't a sting; this is a recruitment."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

Dorai nodded no.

"What about the Li family? You know I can't leave them alone."

"Who said you're leaving town? We'll let whoever did this come to us, to where we want them to be--then and only then will we spring our trap."

"And how do you do that?"

Dorai rubbed at his temples. "I've had three months thinking of a plan, and I think I know where it's going. I've had operations that took as long as seven years to prepare, and think this is one of them. And it looks like we need best help we can get. Mind, you must keep this plan hidden from everyone."

"Including the Li family?"

"Especially the Li family; I don't want them getting into more trouble."

He nodded; that's the only sound thing Dorai said all morning. "Did you let you superiors know about this?"

"No. _The best way to keep a secret is to keep it from your superiors_. You should know that."

"That's insane! You'll lose your job doing an illegal investigation. Not to mention that I might go to _jail_ as an accomplice."

"Only if we get caught. _The trick is to not get caught_."

Wang Wei leaned back on his chair, hardly believing how low the Vice Squad Captain would go to bag three thugs; in some respects, Dorai had become a thug himself. "Why did I even come in here?"

Dorai leaned forward and looked Wang Wei dead in the eye. "You came here to help an old friend. If not, you might as well consider our friendship over." In that moment, his friend knew he was dead-serious. "Please, Wang. You are the _only_ one I can trust in this."

Wang Wei looked at him as if his head turned purple and green. Neither Dorai nor Huo had called him by his first name since they were teenagers way back in their days of yore. "All right...I'm in. I just hope I won't live the regret it."

"I just hope we live through this."

If there was one thing either man forgot to do, it was closing the door. A twenty-three year old Chun-Li--who was six years from becoming the strong woman she would become--had just walked into one of the biggest pickles of her life since M Bison. Now she slowly turned and crept away on slow, agonizing tiptoes. Too bad her father noticed.

"Chun-Li, get _in_ here!"

She froze, her heart racing. _Oh man, I'm in so much trouble_. "Sorry about that. I was just--"

"Get in here, _now_."

And she got in the office in less than a second, her knees trembling.

Wang Wei tried to intervene. "Go easy on her. She never meant to--"

"_I'll_ be the judge of that, thank you." And now for Chun-Li, "How long were you standing there?"

"Um...Not too long, I hope."

"You hope? How much did you hear?"

Chun-Li never liked being questioned, let alone be interrogated by her father. "Part of it," she said, hiding the fact that she heard the "illegal" part of their conversation.

"And how much is part of it?"

"Enough to know."

"Good God, Chun-Li; some day you'll be the death of me. Don't sneak up on me like that."

"I know, but...Do you _have_ to go illegal? I mean, I worry about you, is that too much to ask? I don't want you to end up like..." Tears began to flow down her cheeks. "like...Li."

Dorai got up and hugged his daughter, saying, "Chun-Li, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." He wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I know this whole thing has been hard on you, but I'll do my best to be here for you...I can pinky-swear it," holding out the digit.

"You don't have to go that far; I'm not a kid anymore."

"Okay, okay," and he watch her go; Wang Wei joined him. "They grow up so fast, these kids. One moment they're born, the next they're all grown up."

"Indeed. She's grown up to be quite the looker, I see."

Dorai turned on him. "What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What?"

"You bastard!"

"Oh, come on. It's not what you think."

"Cut the bullshit! You were ogling at her!"

"I did nothing of the sort."

"Your eyes were bulging out of their sockets, for Christ's sake!"

"That's complete exaggeration."

"That's because you're a lying bastard!"

"Now let's handle this like civilized men."

"That's because you can't handle it like a real man, you freaking bastard!"

And they kept on bickering. Believe it or not, the argument went out the office, out the front door, past the Daoist temple and onto the training ground, where Dorai's own students were training. They looked at their teacher arguing with the other man and saw the hypocrisy, a truly bad example of not practicing what you preach. The commotion drew Chun-Li out in the open, and she regretted it. In fact, she wished she disappeared.

"Dorai, you're blowing this way out of proportion."

"And you keep denying, you bastard!"

"How come she didn't notice it, then?"

"Because she had her back to you, you bastard!"

"If I ogled at her, you would've punched me already."

That earned Wang Wei a punch in the face that toppled him over.

"DAD!" Chun-Li was flabbergasted to the ninth level of humiliation.

"He start--" Dorai finally got the picture of his foolishness in the faces of his students staring at him, like he lost his marbles. Too bad for him, he forgot about Wang Wei and paid for it with a foot to the old family jewels. Ouch!

"There. Now we're equal," said Wang Wei sitting up.

"You two are so immature!" And that was a fact. For these two spirit-brothers, some things never change. _Damn their male issues_, thought Chun-Li.

Wang Wei and Dorai looked at each other and laughed their thirty-five year old asses off. Even the students got in there not-so-fair share of sniggers at their expense. In all their training sessions, they've never saw their teacher act so...funny. He was human after all.

For Chun-Li, well...There goes any chances of getting a boyfriend, that's for sure.

That's how it all began, folks, over ten years ago. People got hurt, people got scared, people got humiliated, people killed, people died, people grieved, people wept, people laughed; they did all those things because that was life, as uncensored as a striptease and as uncertain as tomorrow could ever promise to be, as true today as it ever was ten years ago (or any time for that matter). Life is a journey, and though for some that journey has run its course, for a certain shinobi it would lead him to a sanctified ground fought over for centuries, a place whose location is known only to those chosen few, a place called the Warrior's Square.

A/N: Temujin, Daniel, Chiara, Lei Fengling, Chen Kenichi, Zhi Gujin & Huo Li are mine. Inspector Dorai is Chun-Li's father from Street Fighter; Wang Wei and Yelen Li are Syoaran Li's stepfather and real mother from Cardcaptor Sakura, respectively. I've always wondered what Syaoran's real father must have been like, and why Syaoran's always such a...loner to put it lightly, so I filled in some of the gaps to fit him in my story. I'm new on this site, so _please_ give me some feedback. And for you canon-people out there that may think I've committed a grave sacrilege by including Naruto in a 5-way crossover, just remember that I have reasons for the madness.


	3. Enter the Village Idiot

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or Street Fighter.

[Episode 1: The Trip to Hong Kong, Part 1.]

Chapter 1: Enter the Village Idiot.

It was one of those awful days at the office for Lady Tsunade. For her, it felt like the universe was hell-bent on destroying what was left of her temper. The air-conditioning--which was a broken fan--needed repairing, so the air was just stifling, even with the window open; Tsunade felt like she was just short of having heat-stroke, even after taking her "Gambling" coat off. That made her sweat, and her clothes felt icky, especially when she got off the seat to air out her sweaty back. And because of the heat, most of her helpers (Iruka included) were off on office duty, either cooling off at a bar or doing something else, leaving Tsunade and her assistant to take care of the missions for a while. Scrolls upon scrolls upon freaking scrolls of these missions were lying around, most already done and many of the shinobi still waiting to get their payments but too weary of the today's heat to want to collect them. That meant a lot of front-loading and office work for the next day, when it was cooler. She leaned her head against her fingers, massaging her temples of the mounting responsibilities that seemed too many to be believed.

On top of that were three biggies she could definitely do without. The first and most immediate was the preparation for the banquet that should have been held a week ago, had there not been a couple of "compromises". The second was a peculiar foreign request from Wang Wei to spare at least one of the village shinobi to go on a six-month stay overseas with him to help set up some dojo in Hong Kong. Which meant borrowing more money for the travelling fare against her gambling debts--or ask the Fire Daimyo to lend some money, and that was out of the ball park. And, of course, the third just had to be Naruto, the compromising cause of her frustrations.

_How the hell did the Third Hokage handle all this, with Naruto on the side? If only that kid were less of an idiot_, she thought, _I wouldn't have all these headaches!_

Then a knock on the door meant Shizune was back. "Lady Tsunade, I'm back with your tea."

"Come in."

"But I'm holding the tea set. My hands aren't free."

Another headache for the old bird. _Damn the tea stupid set_, she thought, accommodating her assistant before plopping herself on her chair again.

Ignoring the stifling heat as best as she could, Shizune placed the cups on the desk, and poured the ice-chilled green tea. One look at the Fifth Hokage said it all. "How did it go?" she said.

"The Daimyo?" said Tsunade, looking at her assistant before taking a long sip. "She took it in stride, thank God, and she gave us another week, despite what Naruto did to one of her officers. I honestly thought the banquet would be called off, or worse."

"Ah, see," said Shizune, before taking a gulp of tea herself. "At least some things are looking up."

Tsunade looked at her assistant like she has no freaking idea. "I wish they were. Honestly, I can't afford any more mishaps from that kid."

"Well look on the bright side." Shizune took another gulp of tea. "Maybe Naruto just got a bad spell. It happens to best of us, you know that."

"Failing a D-ranked mission? That doesn't happen to the best of us."

"O-kay." There was a pause between her syllables.

"And on top of that, Naruto failed _two in a row_. Hell, I'll be damned if he failed another one."

Shizune cringed to hear an oath from the Fifth Hokage. "O-kay." Another pause between her syllables. "Uh...You're not going to...punish him if he does? Right?"

"I hope not, for his sake and for mine." She took another long, contemplating sip of her tea. Then another knock on the door. "Come in. Sakura? What brings you--What happened to your eye?"

The red-head entered with a black eye, believe or not. "It's Naruto. He is becoming a _real_ hazard."

"Your kidding, what did he do?"

"He threw an _orange_ at my face." Sakura's black eye twitched on the word, orange.

This made Shizune cup her hands around her mouth, and added _another_ pulse of contempt for the blond throbbing through Tsunade's head. "O-kay," said Tsunade--now, a pause between _her_ syllables. "Is Naruto with you?"

"Yes, unfortunately. He's probably cowering behind the door. I'll bring him."

"No, don't worry. You should get an ice pack for that eye."

"That's all right; the swelling's already gone down--ow! Okay, I guess it still stings a bit."

"Is anyone else with you?"

"No. Why?"

"Nothing, just wondering. Shizune, get another ice pack for her on your way out."

"Right on it," and she lead Sakura to the door.

But once Shizune and Sakura were out the door, they were met with a bombardment of apologies from the blond. He was practically on his knees, clutching at Sakura's outfit and groveling like hell for a measure of her mercy. "Forget it, Naruto, you're fate is sealed!" and she landed a bone-cracking fist on the blond's face, sending him ten feet away. Naruto was just short of a bad head injury on the opposite wall.

"God help you, Naruto" said Shizune, not knowing what's getting the blond to his feet, "God help you for what's to come."

"WAIT! SAKURA, I CAN EXPLAIN! IT WAS JUST AN--"

"NARUTO, GET IN HERE!" came a thundering voice that shook the Hokage Tower to its very foundations. The irate Tsunade didn't have to yell twice for Naruto to respond, who carried his weary carcass to the place of his doom, and doing it with trembling knees. "And close the door behind you." Yep--his fate was sealed, and pending!

Silence. You can literally hear a pin drop. The boy was terrified, dreading what he knew was inevitable. The scene resembled two parties in a sentencing room, the glaring Hokage as the hanging judge, and Naruto as the pitiful but guilty defendant. "Lady Tsunade," began the boy, "I can explain--"

"Explain what? How you gave Sakura a black eye?"

"I didn't do it on purpose. I was throwing it at Kiba, but he ducked and--"

"Why? Because he pissed you off? You're _sixteen_, Naruto; you're a man, so act like one!"

"But that's because Kiba--"

"Stop blaming others, Naruto. I will not have that in this room!" After yelling herself hoarse, she lowered herself on her chair, poured another cup of tea, whirled its contents around while eyeing Naruto, and took another long sip before continuing in a quieter voice. "Naruto, what's going on? First the firecracker incident--"

"But I didn't set them off, Kiba did."

Tsunade's eye twitched before continuing. "Then the roofing incident--"

"It wasn't my fault; the hammer's head slipped off the handle. Besides, Kiba gave me that hammer, so _he's _behind it, believe me."

Another eye-twitch. "Naruto, I thought you said a few days ago that _Neji_ was behind it."

"Well..." Naruto thought for a second, building on what innocence he could fake. "Aha! Don't you see! Kiba and Neji are in on it together. Because they lost to me in the Chunin Exams, can you believe that? Man, I never thought they'd stoop so low. I guess that explains it all, so can I--"

"Not so fast, kid! You don't get it, do you, Naruto? Haven't you learned a single--Let me FINISH, damn you!" Exasperated to the last straw when Naruto attempted an early getaway, Tsunade leaned her head against her fingers and evil-eyed the blond package of headaches in front of her. "That's it. You are officially _off_ this mission!"

"WHAT! But I--"

"But nothing, and that's _FINAL!_" (That last outburst shook the scrolls in their shelves and resounded through the office door and walls, and within earshot of Shizune that made her cringe, as she turned the corner to the office. She feared for the poor soul on the other side of that door.) "Naruto, you _seriously_ need to take responsibility for your actions, whether they're your fault or not. That means apologize...Don't look at me that way. It's the truth, kid."

"But...What if Sakura doesn't accept it?"

"So what? You do it anyway. All men worth their _balls_ always apologize to the girls they hurt. If you expect to be Hokage, _that_ is the rule, not the exception."

The boy's pupils shrunk after hearing male testicles mentioned in the Hokage's explanation. Then another bout of awkward silence fell in the office, given that what she said really turned him on. Then he responded, "Damn."

"Damn straight, kid."

"Since you put it that way, I guess you're right. Well...I should get going, then. Bye." But as Naruto attempted yet another escape, he got ordered back. "What now, Granny?--I meant--Sorry."

Another eye-twitch from the hag in question. _Maybe I should let it sink into him a little longer_, she thought. Now holding him in suspense, Tsunade thought about an idea that just popped in her head--it was risky as hell, but it would kill two birds with one stone, if Naruto went along with it. "I'm not finished with you yet. Listen, after you apologize to Sakura, come back here by two o'clock. I...just might have something for you when you get back."

"REALLY? IS IT ANOTHER MISSION? PLEASE, TELL ME, TELL ME--"

"Hold your horses, kid. It _is_ another mission, but I'll tell you about it later. Now go on, shoo!" After Naruto ran out of the room all excited, running into an eavesdropping Shizune in the process, Tsunade leaned her head against her fingers, massaging at her temples.

"Hey, Shizune, I never expected you here," said Naruto, as he helped her to her feet. "Is Sakura still at the hospital?"

"Yes, but I don't think she'll stay there too long. Oh and, Naruto, please be careful. She was pretty moody back there," and with that Shizune saw Naruto immediately practicing his apology on his way to the hospital, albeit at a slower pace--for if the Fifth Hokage wouldn't flatten him out of mercy, Sakura surly would with her merciless punches.

Despite this, he practiced, even to the point of creating a shadow clone of Sakura with his clone-jutsu, whom he could practice apologizing to, while walking to the hospital. He kept practicing for almost half an hour, until his apology rolled off his tongue like ice cream; and for a moment, Naruto dimwittedly thought he just might get out of this predicament without much trouble. Coming to within sight of the hospital, however, the blonde knew in the back of his mind, and his clone grimly acknowledged, that it was not going to be that easy, not when you're dealing with a redhead with a black eye you inflicted.

Naruto gulped and looked at his clone, who said, "Well, nice knowing you, and good luck. Believe it, man, you're going to need it," and went poof before Naruto could respond.

Suddenly, it was deja-vu all over again. Walking toward a black-eyed Sakura in the hospital felt like walking toward an irate Tsunade in the office. Then he saw the redhead exiting the hospital with an ice pack over her eye, who saw him and said, "Stay away from me, Naruto. I don't want to talk to you."

"Come on, Sakura; I only came by to apologize."

"Apology accepted, now go away."

"Oh, come on; that's not very, you know, _nice_."

"Throwing that orange at me wasn't too nice, either."

"Well," Naruto choosing his words carefully before answering, "I'll make it up to you."

"Are you kidding? There is no way I'm letting you clean the dishes, after all the things you caused."

"No, it's not that. I kind of want to make it up to you with a...date." The boy flushed at such a remote but beautiful possibility. "I know a restaurant where I could take you. Wanna come?"

Sakura nearly dropped the ice pack she was holding to her eye, now holding it limply in her hand while she looked at him. To say she was shocked was an understatement; she was flabbergasted. Knowing Naruto, she never thought he would be such a...gentleman, if that was even the right word, which made her blush a little. She toyed around with the idea but decided revenge was in order before amends could be made.

"I'm not that kind of girl, Naruto," she said, "but you could still do something for me."

"Really? What is it?"

"Close your eyes, and I'll let you know," she said, a suggestive smirk growing on the corners of her mouth.

Naruto could hardly believe his luck. To him, 'Close your eyes' plus a smirk meant that something very, _very_ nice was in store. It was so nice, in fact, he was oblivious to a certain someone, who caught wind of the conversation, looking at him.

"How's this?" he said, half expecting to feel Sakura's warm lips on his.

"Perfect. Now be a good boy, and don't open you eyes yet."

"O-kay," he mumbled.

By now, his heart was thumping in his chest, and perverted thoughts were racing through his head; but instead of feeling the heaven of Sakura's lips on his, he felt the hell of her clenched fist digging mercilessly into his eye, sending him about ten feet away. He was lying on his back when he saw Sakura walk up to him.

"Don't get me wrong, Naruto," she said, as the blond propped himself up. "It's just an eye for an eye," and she handed him the ice pack for his eye that will blacken in about thirty minutes or so.

The boy was speechless. As he saw her walking away, he saw the visible swing of Sakura's hips and, under her outfit, the indication of her swaying ass that seemed to say, "You can't have me." For his almost constant immaturity, Naruto could not suppress his hormones and felt an urge to go after the redhead, and show her what a man he truly was; but his reason won out, and he decided not to dig himself a deeper hole than he had already made. However, he didn't realize he was ogling in public, until a certain someone yelled at him.

"Hey, kid! You'll never get that broad just by staring at her ass!"

"Oh yeah? What's it to _you_, budd--?"

It was his pervert of a teacher, Jiraiya, coming to see him--or snoop on him, would be more like it. "Well, well, well, if it isn't a would-be Romeo. You sure had her going that time, until you let her do you in like that, like the immature brat you still are."

In other situations, Naruto would feel embarrassed but not angry, but after a receiving a black eye, he was both. "And you think you can do better?" he yelled. "At least, I'm more honorable!"

"Trust me, kid; you don't know squat about honor--or the art of courtship, for that matter."

"Well, look who's talking. You're the one who keeps peeking into the women's bathroom!"

"Not so loud. There are people around."

"I'll be as loud as I want!"

"That's what I mean," said Jiraiya, pointing out his lack of maturity. "Naruto, I can handle all your little mix-ups, but _lying_ to Lady Tsunade to cover your ass?"

"What do you mean by--" Then it hit him. "Oh."

"Uh-oh is more like it. Let's see, one-two-three--and that last one over there was your fourth strike out." The old man whistled at that last statistic. "You need to get a handle on this bad spell, because it's handling you, right now."

Jiraiya was right, but instead of saying "I know," Naruto merely cursed.

"Don't sweat it, kid. You just need to roll with the punches, that's all."

"Easy for you to say. Just how do I do that, anyway?"

"_You do that by being honest to yourself and to others in what you do and say_--even when it hurts. You'll never go wrong that way, trust me." Then seeing Naruto look in Sakura's direction, he added, "And if you want to get the girl, _you need to pay attention to everything, even to trifles_."

The boy was perplexed by the Toad Sage's teaching, but he thought about his advice. Then he thought about something else. "Wait a minute. How do _you_ know I was lying to her? Were you in her--"

"Naruto, don't ask questions you don't understand. I know, because I know," and he walked away saying, "See you later, kid."

Naruto deadpanned. _Talk about giving an answer without giving an answer_. Again, no surprise here when you saw at two o'clock a harried, enlightened but perplexed, black-eyed Naruto coming to Tsunade's office in a state of awe and regret. _Sakura said, 'It's just an eye for an eye'. What the hell does that mean? And why does she hit so hard?_ he thought, as he winced at the tenderness of his bruised eye. _And paying attention to trifles? What for?_

He opened the door.

"Naruto, there you are. We've been--What happened to _you_?"

"Sakura hit me after I apologized." But when he saw a strange grey-haird man with mustache and spectacles, dressed in a dark brown suit and tie, look at him with raised eyebrows, almost stupified even, he forced a grin and said, "Ah well, I guess I deserved it. It was nothing."

"Good, that's good...I think. Naruto, I'd like you to meet Mr. Wang Wei," said Tsunade, motioning the kid over to the man standing at the desk. "Mr. Wei, this is the kid I was talking to you about," now motioning the blond to shake hands with the man, which he did. "He will be your client for the next six months, Naruto, so try not mess this one up."

Naruto gaped and blushed in disbelief, rare acts on his part. "Six months? Is this another one of those pervy spy missions, where I--"

"No, it's not what you think. It's just a C-ranked mission with _no_ spying. But since this man requires your services over seas, and since you're alone on this one, _please_, handle this mission with extra care. I don't want Mr. Wei to get discouraged."

"Don't fret, my Lady," said Wang Wei, winking at the Hokage, who was taken aback a little. "It will take a lot to get my temper up."

_I hope so. Naruto is a hell of a lot to handle_, she thought. "Thank you for being so considerate, sir."

Naruto gaped again. "Over seas? Where are we going?"

"To China, young man," said Wang Wei, "in good-old Hong Kong. You'll be living there with me."

Naruto was still gapping, not believing his luck. "What do we do over there?"

"Ah, we have lots of things to do, but I'll tell you along the way."

"I might as well send you two on your way, then," said Tsunade. "Good luck, both of you. Oh and, Naruto, could you inform me by mail, while you're there? I'd like to know, let's say, once or twice per month, or whenever it's convenient."

"Sure thing, Granny." By now Naruto had forgotten his black eye, and his manners, for that matter.

"Don't fret, my Lady," said Wang Wei, frowning at the blond's poor choice of words. "We'll send you letters, postcards, photos, even a few souvenirs, if you like."

For the first time today, Tsunade smiled a genuine smile, and poured herself another cup of tea. "You sure are considerate, sir. I'd like that. Well, best you two be off. Good luck and safe travelling--and godspeed," adding that last part under her breath after the two turned around.

After the two went scurrying out the door like to two brave souls on an expedition, Shizune stood there like a statue behind Tsunade's desk in shock. _Tsunade, have you lost your marbles? What the hell are you thinking!_ she thought. "Uh...Lady Tsunade, are you _sure_ Naruto can handle this by himself? I mean, this is his first time going to another country. Not since the Second Hokage, has a shinobi from our village gone to another country. Shouldn't we have, at least, prepared Naruto before he left?"

"That's what the six months are for. I know it's risky, but it'll kill two birds with one stone this way. Naruto will be out of the way with the banquet preparations, and six months will be more than enough time for him to improve overall. I bet by the time he comes back, he'll be more mature and less of a pain." She then took another long but confident sip of her tea.

"I don't know, Lady Tsunade. You take too many risks, and you're bound to get burned."

"You're losing faith, Shizune. Given Wei's request, either the brave and willing shinobi or the brave and misguided idiot is qualified enough for it. I find both of them in Naruto."

"You're hopeless, you know that. No wonder they call you the Legendary Sucker."

Now _really_ pissed, Tsunade threw her assistant a deadly stare. Shizune gulped; God help her for what's to come. But since we don't want to see Tsunade's legendary anger (Believe me, who wouldn't?), let's return to the two, who exited the Hokage Tower and went on walking. Then Naruto realized he had skimped on lunch when apologizing to Sakura, and his stomach growled for sustenance. "Uh, Mr. Wei, are you hungry? Because I know a ramen bar close by here."

"I thought you'd never asked, but I have never had lunch in this kind of heat." Then seeing Naruto look at his wallet in despair, who was oblivious to the heat, he said, "How much you got there?"

"I'm two ryo short of being flat broke," said Naruto, looking to his client if he could spare him some, not knowing he had only wen, or Chinese money, on hand.

"That's all right, I'll pay for it," said Wang Wei, tapping at his wallet full of wen. "That is, if they accept wen in this village."

"Wen?"

"Chinese money."

"Oh, that. I don't know, maybe. Let's hope so. There it is,"--pointing to ramen shop. "Just beyond the corner, the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. I guess there's only one way to find out." Once they seated themselves at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, Naruto asked Teuchi, the cook, "Do you accept wen--I meant, Chinese money?--My friend here has some."

Teuchi looked at his usual costumer, eyebrows raised like he was joking or something, then at Wang Wei who seemed foreign enough, and then back at Naruto saying, "Why are you carrying around Chinese money for?" Then it hit him like a beer-slap. "Wait a minute, are you really from China?" asking the man in the suit and tie.

Wang Wei nodded yes.

"And are you going to China _with_ this man?" now asking the blond.

Naruto nodded yes, adding, "For six months, man, believe it! But we need something to eat before we go. Chinese cash all right with you?"

"Ah, no need for that, gentlemen," said Teuchi, now utterly convinced, giving out several bowls of steaming ramen. "Our ramen is on the house for both of you, but only if you tell me how it's like in China. I've heard a lot about that place. Nobody in this village has stepped on the shores of that land, since the Second Hokage! Why, I am honored you gentlemen chose this place before setting out on such a grand venture. May I?"--now offering to shake hands with Wang Wei.

"Ah, certainly," said Wang Wei shaking hands with the cook, who shook vigorously.

"And you also, young man," offering to shake with Naruto, who shook more vigorously. "Ah, that's the way to shake a man's hand."

And within a minute of shaking hands, and oblivious to the time, the two feasted on bowl after bowl of the steaming, yummy goodness, Wang Wei talking about the many splendors of China in between his large mouthfuls--and a curious Naruto and Teuchi listening to him all the while.

A/N: Now you finally got to see Naruto, so you can't say that I was bullshitting you guys. Also, this is set ten years after the events of the two prologues, so expect to see an older, more clever and wiser Wang Wei. Also, Jiraiya will play a much bigger part in the chapters down the road. Trust me, I have plans for him, and for Naruto, and all of you faithful readers out there. But I need your reviews, _please_. Let me know what you think, so I can continue this story. I truly believe in this story and would go to the ends of the earth to keep this going, but I need _your_ feedback. So please, read and REVIEW!


	4. Enter the Dumpling

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or Street Fighter.

Chapter 2: Enter the Dumpling.

An hour after leaving the "An" Gates of Konoha, Wang Wei and Naruto, both filled to the brim of their stomachs, kept talking of the glories of China until the subject went stale. After that, for little more than half an hour, the two walked on in silence. The two were making pretty good time, considering that they finally left the village two hours later than they should have.

It was four in the afternoon of an unusually hot day, and Naruto found himself sweating his balls off--figuratively speaking, of course. But carrying a pack full of six months worth of stuff (ramen, spare boxers and shirts, not to mention his shurikens, kunais and other shinobi equipment, and miscellaneous items) was hell on the kid's back. That much stuff weighed about a hundred pounds, something only Rock Lee could manage on the day-to-day basis. Wang Wei had just a little more than half that weight in camping gear slung around his shoulders in a large pack, and already he was beginning to tap out. After trudging under the shade that provided a little relief from the sun, but seeing no village to rest in, they decided to camp out for the evening by a quiet spot a little ways from the road, near a thicket of trees for a wind-breaker. The tent was set up and finished with the last spike driven into the ground. And done by six in the afternoon, an early supper was in order--only instead of Naruto's usual binge of ramen, Wang Wei introduced him to Chinese dumplings.

"I've never had dumplings before," said Naruto.

"Then you have been missing out on a real treat, Naruto," replied Wang Wei, waiting for the pot to come to a boil on the campfire. "Dumplings are one of the great traditions of China."

"Really? How many flavors are there?"

The man smiled at him like he had no idea. "Endless. You can stuff them with fish, pork, vegetables, shrimp, and other things, and boil them, steam them, and eat them like plump pieces of ramen. You can even saute them, fry them, roast them, even barbecue them, and dunk them into a bat of soy sauce, and other dips, like pot-stickers. You know what pot-stickers are?" And seeing the boy nod no, he continued, "You'll know soon enough, once we get to Hong Kong. Truly, Naruto, there is no limit to what mankind can do with dumplings."

Drool started to drip from Naruto's grinning mouth, as the pot of dumplings started to boil. Once the lid was off, a wonderful odor of dumplings filled the camp and enveloped Naruto, hitting him like a punch in the nose. It smelled so good, it made his nose bleed--it smelled _that_ good. Then Wang Wei set a few bowls of steaming dumplings on the small table between Naruto and himself, and thanked to the Lord Zao Shen before feasting.

"Uh, Mr. Wei," said Naruto, "who is Zao Shen? Is he an ancestor of yours?"

"No, no. He is the Kitchen God, or Stove God." Then seeing the boy look a him strangely, he went on, "He's an old custom some of the Chinese observe when we come together to eat, usually at supper or dinnertime. You going to eat those dumplings?"

"Oh. Yeah, I will," and his first bite into a genuine dumpling exploded into his mouth molten hot. He swallowed in agony. "AH, THAT'S HOT!"

Wang Wei could not suppress his laughter saying, "Blow on it before you eat it. You know it just came out of the pot."

"You could have warned me earlier," said Naruto, fanning himself with his hand.

"Yes, I know, but it's funnier this way. Ah, don't pout that way. Every novice goes through that. I did. Consider it a right of passage. You can never truly enjoy a dumpling, until you've tasted its burning sting. Take another bite, you'll see."

Looking at the dumpling half still pinched between his chopsticks, Naruto looked at him skeptically, then ate it. And it tasted like heaven, steamed pork stuffing, broth and utter delight, all of it going down easy this time. "Mm-mm-mmm!"

"I told you," said Wang Wei, before taking another bite.

"Do they serve more of this in your place?"

"Indeed, Naruto. And many other things, I assure you."

It goes without saying that they went on feasting, blowing the dumplings cool, eating and savoring them, just as they did with the ramen back in the Ichiraku Bar. So in splendid eating, Naruto took a moment for reflection.

_Kiba_, thought Naruto, _when I come back, I'll kick you so hard, you'll freaking piss blood for a week, for what you made me do! But I got to hand it you, man. Without your help, I would've never gotten this awesome mission--or this awesome food. Man, I can only imagine the look on your fuzzy face, when you find out I'm off to Hong Kong. Yep, the ultimate payback, believe it! Try sucking on those apples, Dog Breath, he-he-he!_

"Naruto," said a smiling Wang Wei, the blond taking a moment to collect himself. "What happened to you back there?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Wei?"

"I mean, why do have a black eye? You don't have to answer, but I'm just curious."

"Oh, this?"--pointing to the eye in question. "You'll never believe me. I mean, it's kind of funny but it's kind of not. You get me?"

"I'm a man of quite a few years, Naruto. Try me."

"Well, all right. It kind of happened like this. First I was cutting up the vegetables, you know, minding my own business and all. Then Kiba came around and helped with sorting out the fruits, because some of them were rotten. We were sorting them, you know--making the preparations for the Daimyo to come to the village for some celebration. I think it has something to do with some kind of honoring ceremony for the dead--I don't know, something like that. Then we got into an argument over which was rotten and which wasn't. I think Kiba needs his nose checked or something, because that one apple didn't have a single wart on it. Anyway, then we argued some more, and threw fruits and vegetables at each other. It was kind of fun, actually. Then I threw an orange at him, and he ducked, the bastard, and it ended up hitting Sakura in the eye. She has a black eye now, and she blames me for it--but it's all Kiba's fault!"

Wang Wei raised his eyebrows. "But you explained how _she_ got a black eye, not you."

"I'm getting there...Well, after that I got sent to the Hokage's office, you know, Lady Tsunade up in the tower, to explain everything that happened, and I had to apologize. So I _did_ apologize before I met you, but Sakura punched me in the eye anyway saying, 'An eye for an eye.' It was an accident, you know. I mean, I guess I deserved it."

"Of course you deserved it, accident or not. Trust me when I tell you, when it comes to women, a true man never disputes any _wrong_ he had done to them."

Naruto Looked at him like he was Pervy Sage from the way his last five words came out. "And how do _you_ know about that?"

"_I_ know," said Wang Wei, "because I am obligated to one. My life is full of them, I assure you. First, the wife of a deceased friend. Then their four daughters, and then a most impetuous niece, all of whom I look after--All. Living. Under. One. Roof."

"Whoa!"

"'Woe' indeed."

"How the hell do you _handle_ that, day in and day out?"

"I don't know. I guess you just get used to it, though getting used to it is not the right way to put it," but one look at Naruto made Wang Wei say more. "Ah, but don't worry, Naruto. You and I are not the only males to live under that roof. I have a step-son about your age, Syaoran, living there too. Though he denies it, I can tell he is in need of a brother, for I fear he is getting a bit effeminate. He spends more and more time on the phone, talking to his sweetheart in Tomoeda. It's a bit of a long story, but I'll tell later. Maybe he'll find that long-lost brother in you." The blonde smiled, but it disappeared just as quickly. "Ah, don't be that way. Surely, you must have a brother or a sister or someone waiting for you back in your village."

"Nope, not anymore."

"A cousin? A mother? A father?"

"Nope."

"A foster family?"

"Nope. I live alone."

Wang Wei barely caught himself from choking on a dumpling. "Nobody! You're an _orphan_?"

"Yep. I don't even know what most of them look like, let alone _know_ them. I have no family photos. Well--_one_, I guess. I only know what my father looks like, because I see his face every day--you know, the fourth face on the mountain, next to the Fifth Hokage's."

Wang Wei didn't notice the dumpling still in his chopsticks, after hearing what he said. "Blind me now! Your father was a _Hokage_?"

"Yep, and that's what I'll be when I grow up, believe it! I'll be a Hokage like no other!"

"But how on earth did you _lose_ such a father?"

"I didn't lose him," said Naruto, his blue eyes softening momentarily. "He was taken away from me--him, and the rest of my family--when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village."

After hearing the tragedy, Wang Wei placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, the way a father does to comfort a son. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I never thought it would be that way;"--now pausing. "I'll tell you what. You work on becoming the best Hokage you can be, and I promise to pay for all the meals from here to Hong Kong. Is that fair?"

Naruto beamed at him. "You mean it, you really mean it?"

"I never go back on my word, Naruto."

"You're on! Wait a second, but with Chinese money?"

"I'll try my best, I assure you," and Wang Wei ate his neglected dumpling.

They continued eating into the evening, talking of other things all the while, until a good number of bowls and two stomachs full of dumplings later, the two called it a day and went to sleep in their sacks. Only, one of them wasn't sleeping too well.

While Wang Wei slept peacefully in his night sack, Naruto couldn't sleep a wink of peace. He found himself sweating for no apparent reason, turning over in his sack for a better position. He felt uneasy. Why? Not because of the heat. Not because of the dumplings. Not even because of his mission. It was because he felt something rumbling in his ears, a low flood of murmurs from a distant crowd. Then he blinked and thought he saw something moving in the shadows. He couldn't move, either. He blinked again and thought he saw the faintest of lights from above. He kept blinking, and the lights became brighter. And when he shut his eyes once more, he at found himself on some sort of elevated platform. He wondered what it could be used for, until the glare of the lights over him let him know where he was: an arena. In this arena were rows of old seating around him, and in half of those seats were human-sized dumplings--talking, eating, betting, arguing, thinking, and watching. Pretty soon, Naruto felt like the observed of the observers, as many in the dumpling crowd watched and considered him. Then they booed him.

When Naruto opened his eyes again, he was immediately in his sleeping sack, beneath the tent, and next to a snoring Wang Wei. But when he closed his eyes again, he was back in the arena with these talking dumplings filling the seats around him. Naruto thought it was all in his head (and technically it was, since he was dreaming it), but it sure as hell didn't feel like a dream. He breathed the musk of dumpling, stood well enough on the platform, and saw and heard the dumplings booing him; and no amount of self-pinching, self-testing or self-denying brought him back in his sleeping sack. Then he thought about all the booing dumplings, and how they were all getting on his nerves.

"Oh, yeah, you think you can boo me, the next hokage?"

The dumpling crowd booed louder.

"Well why don't you just come up here, if you have any guts, you pork-filled douche bags!"

Some of the douche bags were pissed off enough to get off their seats, and actually challenge the blond shinobi, had not their fellow dumplings restrained them. Naruto went on taunting them until an unexpected hush fell over the arena. Though he didn't know why at first, the blond soon knew when the dumplings broke into a booming cheer, as somebody, presumably the dumpling champ, came in. Naruto could hardly believe his eyes at the sight of this titan of a dumpling (the Dumpling of Dumplings, for all he knew), who was twice his height, and five times the bulk of the other dumplings, and around it's waist was an apron with a dumpling and the kanji of "rikishi" on it. On top of that, especially when he saw it step onto the platform, the immensity of its girth and height besides, the blond saw something he didn't expect. Unlike the other dumplings, this one had a hide of gritty sandpaper, and Naruto knew that punching that would scrape against his knuckles.

Then the crowd simmered down into silence before a smaller dumpling in a green imperial-looking attire, maybe the referee, entered the platform. Then another dumpling, this time in a tuxedo (if you could call it that) came up and made the introductions. It said, "Ladies and gentleman, we have here a peculiar exhibition match tonight, one that I know will be remembered. For the first time in the history of this tournament, you will see our champion, Jiaozi the Huge, face off against this scrawny little meatball of a non-dumpling."

The arena full of dumplings laughed their douche bags off.

"Say that to my FACE, you tuxedo douche bag!" yelled the blond, an arena full of boos aimed at him.

"I already did," replied the Tuxedo, to the laughter of the crowd.

"Oh yeah? Say that again and I'll beat you to a pulp, believe it!"

More booing.

"That's the spirit, but save that for the fight, kid. So with--"

"Backing out so soon, eh? Well you picked the wrong--" but before Naruto completed the sentence, and amidst more booing, the platform shook beneath his feet. "What the Hell?"

Naruto turned and saw the massive dumpling named Jiaozi. The arena was silent.

"Did you do that?" he told him.

Jiaozi, believe it or not, acknowledged with a nod of his...uh, head.

"All righty then. So without further interruptions, LET'S GET IT ON!" said the Tuxedo, getting off the platform before the blond pounced on him. The crowd was roaring.

The two contestants then stood at the center of the platform, with the referee saying, "Now I want a good clean fight. No head-butts, muay-thai elbows, or nut-jabs. Is that clear?"

Jiaozi the Huge nodded yes, but Naruto was dumbfounded.

"How can this guy have elbows?"

"Trust me, kid. He has everything you have," explained the referee. "Including nuts, so don't get any ideas. Now, are you ready?"

"Yeah, sure," he said, and the match started with Naruto staring in awe--in awe!--at the enormous dumpling, swinging from side to side like a jiving punching bag.

He wasn't sure how to approach this guy, so without another minute's thought, Naruto rushed at him. Bad idea. He ran straight into the hardest punch his head could sustain without losing consciousness, staggering back like a drunkard before recovering. The dumpling audience gasped. Undeterred, the blond yelled, "Shadow-Clone Jutsu!" confident his clones would overwhelm his opponent, but they didn't. When they got close enough to land a blow, they were picked off with boulder-fisted punch after boulder-fisted punch. Those punches were not only accurate, but felt like actual boulders. Naruto tried more of his clones on him and got the same result.

Then Naruto noticed something. Jiaozi was a dumpling with no obvious limbs to keep track of, his rough hide acting like a curtain hiding his punches. That left out any direct attacks. But he couldn't use any long-range attacks inside an arena full of spectators, either, if he didn't want to cause a bigger scene than he already had. He needed to beat him somehow, to get an upper hand on him, but how? Then he had an idea. Then the crowd of dumplings gasped in utter horror.

Naruto used his ninjutsu to transform into an orange version of Jiaozi the Huge. Then the blond cloned himself, and the murmurs went flying around the arena, from "Holy Eggnoggin!" to "That's not fair! He's cheating!" The crowd notwithstanding, Naruto and his clone double-teamed the opponent, taking him to the ground in a crushing tackle. Then the dumpling-shaped Naruto leaped in the air and fell, landing his best dumpling elbow into the softest part of his opponent's body, not realizing it was poor Jiaozi's nuts. A cry of pain echoed through the arena, and the third and loudest gasp of shock sounded through the crowd; then they booed Naruto like hell this time, stomping on the seats with their douche bags.

Despite this, Naruto got off of his opponent, and his clone helped the fallen dumpling to a vertical base, before releasing his jutsu and saying, "You okay, man? I hope I didn't--"

"You landed on my family jewels!" cried a high-pitched Jiaozi, tears streaming down his dumpling face from wincing eyes. The crowd kept on booing.

Naruto was about to say something, when the dumpling in the tuxedo came up and announced, "Due to the _despicable_--" Then seeing the boy clench his fist at the word, he said, "I meant _unintentional_ low blow," the crowd throwing curses and trash at the blond for this, "the contestant is hereby disqualified," at which the crowd roared with approval.

"It was an accident, for God's sake! How was I supposed to know where his nuts were?"

Then came the loudest uproar of boos from the infuriated crowd. They were throwing rotten lettuce and tomatoes at him, now.

"Oh yeah, well I'll show you where your eyes are with my fists, if you don't believe me!" continued the young shinobi.

Too bad for Naruto, he wasn't paying attention to Jiaozi, who, seeing the perfect opportunity for vengeance, leaned back his head as far as he could and swung it like a catapult onto the boy's head, head-butting him into oblivion. The last thing Naruto heard was the fading cheer of the crowd, as he slid into unconsciousness.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he found himself in his sleeping sack with the most apocalyptic headache he ever had since God knows when. Not even Sasuke could dish this out, and he could dish out one hell of a headache. Then Wang Wei came in with a boiling pot of you-know-what saying, "Naruto, you're finally awake. Care for another round of dumplings for breakfast?"

Naruto gulped, a look of horror on his face.

*** *** ***

Laughter, nothing but laughter came from Wang Wei, when Naruto told him why he did not want any dumplings for breakfast. If you want to know why, well, here it is. For Wang Wei, just the mere thought of any mortal challenging the great Jiaozi the Huge (also known as Jiaozi the Avenger to offending mortals who enjoyed too much the taste of dumplings--like Wang Wei, for instance) and surviving was an impossibility; but if he took Naruto's word as fact, which he did, then he was looking at a prodigy. He was amazed, to tell the truth--amazed, but still laughing.

"That's not funny. I said that's not funny; it really hurt when he head-butted me!"

"I know," said Wang Wei. "Ha-ha-ha! But your actions certainly were. Who'd ever thought you would make Jiaozi cry uncle like that?"

The boy grinned at the thought. "If you say so. I guess I showed him a thing or too."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong."

"Yeah? How so?"

"You see, Jiaozi is not only called Jiaozi the Huge, he is also called Jiaozi the Avenger. He always gets his revenge, even after you subdue him. Case in point, he head-butted you after y-y-you _elbowed_ him" he said, laughing at that particular detail. "I can't believe you actually did that!"

The boy was laughing too. "Then, we're even."

"Indeed, you are. Just pray you will be on friendlier terms, when you see him, again."

"WHAT! I don't--"

"Just kidding, you'll never see him, again," said Wang Wei--Naruto sulking at being played with. "Ah, don't be the way. Jiaozi will not return, I promise."

"How do I know you're not pulling my leg?"

"Trust me. I was barely half your age, when I had my run-in with Jiaozi. I was standing on that very platform, surrounded by that very crowd and scared beyond my wits. In fact, I was crying so hard that Jiaozi came to comfort me and granted me amnesty. He is not only vengeful, he is also compassionate; remember that."

"I'll stick to ramen, though. Just for a little while."

Wang Wei laughed, again.

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't been updating lately. School is a killer, let me tell you. Anyway, don't think this is just a filler chapter; I don't know, maybe it is, but take this chapter with a grain of sugar. Consider this a funny preview to the fighting that will take place as this story goes along. Also, Zao Shen is the Chinese god of the hearth or kitchen, and Jiaozi is a Chinese word for pot stickers. If you don't believe me, look them up at Wikipedia. Anyway, read and review. For God's sake, review--I NEED them!


	5. Enter the Wimp & the Woman

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or Street Fighter.

[Episode 2: The Trip to Hong Kong, Part 2.]

Chapter 3: Enter the Wimp & the Woman.

While Naruto and Wang Wei were having breakfast, Dan Hibiki was having a confidence crisis, only that was too kind; he wanted revenge. He was humiliated, especially after what that knife-weilding yakuza-bastard did to him in his own dojo. He clenched his fist until his knuckles went white, whenever he remembered him. Two days ago, after he had pulled a miraculous win over Sagat at an exhibition rematch, he and his students were leaving his dojo to celebrate not only his win, but the progress of his students, when one of his students came back all jumpy.

"Saburo, whoa! What's wrong?" he said.

"S-s-s-some yakuza-dude is looking for you. He has a--"

"Calm down, okay. Where is he?"

"Right here," came an unexpected voice.

Everybody froze. Dan looked up and saw a man leaning against the door jamb, his arms crossed like you owed him something. He had black and blond hair, slicked back with oil, and wore a black shirt, black pants and black shoes.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I heard you were the one that beat out Sagat, last night," the man replied.

Then Saburo spoke up. "Yeah, and our master will beat y--"

"Saburo, be quiet!" said Dan; then back to the man--"What's it to you?"

The man then walked toward Dan, his students backing away. "You should teach that kid how to behave when he's around adults."

Then Dan noticed the man's right hand in his pocket, and got the feeling that this predicament might turn nasty, if he did not keep his guard up. "Don't tell me how to teach anybody. Just what the hell do you want from me?"

"I want my money."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't owe you shit. Get the hell out!"

"Maybe we got off on the wrong foot," the man continued, "if that's what you mean."

Dan was up to his neck in anger, and was five seconds away from strangling the guy in front of him. "Get. Out. Now!" he said.

The man sighed at this, like he knew where this was headed. "This ain't personal. It's just business."

_One_, Dan thought, counting from one to five; at five he'd have no choice but to take matters into his own hands. "Maybe it is, but get out, anyway."

"I never meant to intrude, or anything."

_Two_. "Well, you are."

"Maybe I should explain myself, then."

_Three_. "No need to explain. Now, get out."

"But you need to understand something."

_Four_. "Like what?"

"Like THIS!"--and the man dealt Dan a cruel uppercut to the diaphragm and bowled him over onto his knees. "Do you have any idea how much money you lost me? Fifty-thousaund mother-fuckers on Sagat, and _you_ fucked it up!"

"Maybe you shouldn't of underestimated me," said a grinning Dan.

That earned him a "Fuck you!" and a kick to the diaphragm. Then the man pulled out a switchblade from his right pocket and flicked it open. The kids began to panic, some of them crying and others running away; but one of them, Saburo, lunged at the man with the knife, trying to get at it but getting elbowed off his feet, instead. Seeing the only opportunity to react, Dan lunged at the man, trying in vain to tackle him off his feet, and feeling the cold steel of his knife dig into the marrow of one of his ribs. Crying in pain, Dan found himself on all fours, and losing his grip on the assailant, he felt an arm wrap around his neck in a choke hold with the blade to his throat; he could hardly breathe. Then Dan felt the tug of the man's arm around his neck, pulling him up into a painful guillotine kind of kneel--all of this happening in front of one of his students, Saburo.

"Look at him, Dan," the man said. "You see the fear in that kid's eyes."

Dan looked at Saburo, who was glued to his spot. Though he was Dan's best student, he was still too young and fearful to react to something like this.

"Too scared to fight, and too scared to run away."

Dan tried to get to his feet but felt the man's choke hold tighten like a noose.

The man said, "Hey, kid. Get out of here;" and Saburo picked himself up and ran away.

Then without warning, the man jabbed the handle of his knife into Dan's stab wound, and a cry of pain echoed throughout the dojo, followed by the sickening thud of a body hitting the floor.

"Look at yourself, Dan. You're not even worth dulling the edge of my blade, so you can forget about paying up. Like I said, nothing personal;" and the man began to walk away, but turned around to say, "But if you screw me over again, I won't be so merciful."

Mercy. That was the one thing Dan won't have for the son-of-a-bitch, should he see _him_ again. For Dan, it was revenge all over again, a feeling he had for Sagat when he killed his father in the ring, a feeling that was getting friendlier to him every time he thought about the incident in his dojo. Cops were called, interviews were made, files were prepared, the phone-calls, the apologies to frightened parents, the hospital stay, the whole nine yards when in comes to police and civilian protocol dealing with an _assault_, but not an attempted murder. Dan's blood boiled when the cops put it that way.

_Does it have to take a death for them to really go after this guy?_ he thought.

That was the clincher: death. If the cops won't take this bastard down, Dan would. Whatever it took, he'll go out and take him down, even if that meant a double-homocide in the press' papers, and the dishonor of his father's reputation; he wouldn't give a fuck, as long as he got to hear the bastard's last breath. Only one thing stopped him, though. Courage. Dan could roll with the big boys in the ring, but when it came to life-and-death struggles, he could not measure up to his father; he died before he could teach his son the most important art any warrior can learn: the art of courage. If Dan had courage in the ring with Sagat, he was squeezed dry of it when he came to the Pot House Inn, trying to look for it at the bottom of another empty glass.

Finding none, he asked for more.

"You're lucky we're one of those twenty-four hour places," said the bartender, who worked the morning-shifts. "Look, it's almost eight in the morning. You need something more substantial than that rot-gut you've been drinking all night. Care for some ramen?"

"I'm not hungry."

"I'll give one you, anyway," and the bartender placed a bowl of ramen with chopsticks in front of Dan. "It's on the house; you won't have to pay. Tap the glass on the bar, if you need anything, okay?"

Not wanting to let a good thing go to waste, Dan ate his sorrows away, bringing at least some measure of goodness back into him. Pretty soon, the inn began to fill with costumers, waiters and waitresses, and by nine Dan was snoozing on the barstool, his head in his arms and his arms crossed over the bar table. The bartender thought it wise to tell the other costumers not to disturb him.

Local costumers thought otherwise. To these costumers coming in for breakfast, having a snoring drunkard from last night accompanying them was unacceptable. It was always the drunks who attracted the most unwanted attention, and half of the time, they were right; most bar fights started with feuding drunks and ended when the authorities came to apprehend them, leaving the inn's staff to clean the mess and their costumers to pay higher premiums for their meals, because of the damages. Not only that, but having a drunkard sleeping on a barstool in the morning was a eyesore; it just made the establishment and its costumers look bad. So they badgered the bartender to make Dan leave, but he said he was standing up for "another late-night costumer," as he put it.

By eleven one the doormen, a boy actually, came in saying, "Mr. Hachi, sir, Ms. B. J--"

"What is it now? Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"Y-yes, sir, but I--"

"Look, if you came in just to waste my time--"

"Don't worry Hachi, I won't waste your time," came a familiar female voice.

Everyone in the inn, except Dan, turned to see who she was. She was none other than the buxom Bonne Jenet, her dog and her Lillien Knights, plus a muscle-bound dude that Mr. Hachi assumed was a recently admitted member.

"My lady! I never expected _you_ here this morning," said Mr. Hachi, now sweating; then turning to the doorman, "Boy, why did you not tell--?"

"Because you wouldn't let him," said Bonne. "Where is my table?"

Strike one for Mr. Hachi. Trying not to panic, he snapped at the waiters to attend to Bonne and her Knights, who did so with military precision. Her presence demanded respect. There was no way the Pot House Inn would snub an affluent blond-bombshell like Bonne Jenet, the beautiful daughter of two of its wealthiest patrons. Not only was she rich and beautiful, Bonne was a femme fatale you don't want to piss off. In fact, she was responsible for bringing down one of the Pot House Inn's greatest rivals, the former Sunrise Inn, after a rude remark about her dress landed its owners in financial ruin; and unlike most rich women, she can kick ass--literally. After dodging one bullet already, Mr. Hachi was determined that nothing would mar the reputation of this establishment, not while she was here, not with an hour left in his shift, not with his job on the line.

Then he looked at Dan, still snoring over the bar.

_I should have listened to my costumers_, he thought.

Dan was the least of Mr. Hachi's problems. The waiters served sirloin steak, one of Bonne's favorite foods, to every human member of the group but forgot the furry member of the group.

"Waiter," said Bonne, "you forgot my dog."

"Oh, sorry about that," the waiter said. "Um...we don't really have any...doggie bowls around."

"Then use a plate."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I just...forgot."

Bonne rolled her eyes.

Strike two for Mr. Hachi. By now, he was looking at the waiter in agony, like he had committed a cardinal sin of sins, and sweating like a bastard. Then he looked at his watch. Fifty long minutes to the end of his shift.

_Damn! I am so screwed_, he thought.

No doubt, all the staff had that same thought in their minds, while the other costumers kept an eye on Bonne and her Knights, and a yet-to-be-sober Dan Hibiki. Too bad for all of them, two more costumers came in--you know who they are.

Naruto and Wang Wei felt uneasy when they entered the Pot House Inn, because the door boy's explanation for all the commotion wasn't really an explanation; it was more like a warning to "stay out of B. Janet's way at all costs," as he put it. But that didn't stop Naruto from noticing the heavenly smell of sirloin steak floating in the air. The two got a small table near the door, just in case the "worst" happened, whatever that meant, ordered sirloin steak and were pretty much ignored after they got served. The steak tasted pretty damn good, down to the last bite.

Meanwhile, half of the staff catered to Bonne and her Knights, everyone paying attention to every little mistake they made that Bonne didn't notice--thank their lucky stars she didn't.

"Geez, what's up with these guys?"

"I'd rather not find out," said Wang Wei. "Naruto...Before we left the village, why did you call Lady Tsunade 'Granny'? Is she a related to you, somehow?"

"Are you kidding? I wish. People just call her that, because she's fifty-something."

Wang Wei raised his eye brows. "You can't be serious!"

"I know it's hard to believe. She's got this age-defying jutsu, or something."

"I see."

Naruto looked at him. "What are you getting at?"

"Just curious."

"So what's this all about, going to Hong Kong and all?"

"Well," said Wang Wei. "Have you ever had any experience in setting up a dojo of any sort?"

"No, I can't say I have--Wait a minute. Is this some kind of construction thing?"

"No, no, no--nothing like that. It has more to do with recruiting potential students for a dojo. Any experience along those lines?"

"Eh...Not really."

"We need more help than I thought," he mumbled under his breath.

"What, you think I'm not qualified for this?"

"Now don't get me wrong, Naruto. You certainly are qualified for this, but..." he said, choosing his words carefully, "the situation in Hong Kong requires all the help we can get."

"Well, why didn't you get my whole team, and then we--?" Then it hit him. The rest of Naruto's team was busy preparing for the banquet back at Konoha. "Oh."

"It's not only that. You see, hiring help from a shinobi village as legendary as yours will attract too much unwanted attention in Hong Kong. There are invisible hands trying to prevent me from bringing in another aid to our situation."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a bit...complicated. The dojo I speak of used to be in business ten years ago. I was one of two teachers there, the other being Huo Li."

"Li? Is he--?"

"Yes, Huo Li is Syaoran's father. He and I were close friends way back."

"Oh."

Wang Wei sighed. "Anyways, everything was doing well until one student was attacked one night by an assailant working for an unknown organization. Of course, authorities were dispatched and the student was questioned, but it didn't lead anywhere. So we hired some bouncers, but even they were useless. Three months later, several more students were attacked with such violence to the point where many of them were put in the hospital. The parents got scared. Soon, the students stopped coming. It was very hard for Huo to take. One day, Huo openly challenged whoever attacked the students and paid for it with his life." Naruto was about to say something, but Wang Wei stopped him and said, "But before he died, he made me promise that I must protect his family and that his dojo must be closed for the safety of the students, which I did."

"What happened after that?"

"Well, for over ten years, it remained closed but not torn down. But now, I plan to reopen the dojo, and I need help recruiting students and--"

"Securing the place?"

"Exactly. You will not be alone in this venture, for I have Syaoran helping with the recruiting part, but I need more help. The problem is that I cannot attract too much attention from whatever caused the attacks in the first place. The public airports are too obvious; I know they are waiting for me there after I took a flight from there. I need another mode to get in there without being spotted--to smuggle ourselves there, to put it bluntly. I want to keep things in the low, if you know what I mean."

"You mean, it's gonna be under cover? That kind of thing?"

"A little like that, yes..." (Bonne had been looking at the two near the door for a while, her interest in them growing by the second. She couldn't put her finger on it, but whatever they were talking about she could smell the cold hard smell of money attached to it. So she motioned Mr. Hachi over, asked what they were talking about "over their" and had him ask them about it. You can imagine the pressure he was under, being tasked with a most intrusive request by a most anal costumer. But he gathered his wits--what's left of them, anyway--and proceeded. Costumers took notice.) "But I cannot do it without getting more hands on deck. Our situation requires much more help, if I expect my training hall to be successful, once again. I am already here, so _I must make the most of what I can get while I'm still here_--"

"Excuse me, sirs," said Mr. Hachi, "but I was wondering what you two are talking about."

Naruto and Wang Wei just looked at him, then at each other.

"Who wants to know?" said Naruto.

Mr. Hachi tried to ignore the boy's black eye. "Ms. B. Jenet would like to know."

Now everybody took notice.

"Hold on," said Wang Wei. "We were not making any unwholesome comments about Ms. B. Jenet, I assure you."

"No, sir, it's not that. She's just a little...curious?"

"Curious? You mean, about our conversation?"

"Yes, sir."

Now everyone began to wonder what the hell these two strangers were talking about.

"Why would Ms. B. Janet want to know, if you don't mind me asking?" said Wang Wei.

"Well, she..." Then Mr. Hachi bent forward and whispered into his ear, "To be honest with you, I have no idea."

"Would she mind me asking her why, then?"

"Uh..." Hachi looked back at Bonne, and back at Wang Wei, saying, "Maybe, but I don't _think_ so."

The costumers thought otherwise.

"All right then. Come along, Naruto," said Wang Wei, getting up and walking to Bonne's table.

Costumers and staff alike could not believe their eyes. To walk over to the sanctified table of B. Jenet unannounced and of your own accord--that was blasphemy.

Mr. Hachi panicked and grabbed his shoulder. "Uh, sir, SIR! I think--"

"What? I'm just going to ask her why."

Everyone in the room became nervous. Some of the costumers became giddy and began to creep away from this situation while they still could.

"But, sir, I don't--"

"Let him _go_, Hachi," said Bonne. "It's okay, you won't lose your job because of this."

Everyone in the inn breathed a sigh of relief. After all the mixups with the food service, after two near misses, after all the unnoticed mixups, Bonne proved to be in a very good mood today. But these two strangers were definitely pushing their luck.

So Mr. Hachi looked at his watch. Thirty minutes left in his shift.

_Damn!_ he thought.

At Bonne's table, the two were offered seats, but they refused. Everyone in the room took note of this brazen act of impiety. To refuse anything from the blond-bombshell!--that was blasphemy number two.

"Our discussion was private," said Wang Wei.

"I know, but I'm just curious."

"But why?"

"Oh, I don't know," said Bonne. "Maybe you need help, or something."

Wang Wei raised his eyebrows.

Then Naruto barged in. "Spill the beans, lady; we don't have all day."

"Naruto!"

Everybody gasped. Strike three for Mr. Hachi and everybody who never saw that one coming. Blasphemy number three for the weary costumers.

"You're right, kid. We don't have all day, but the least you could do is be courteous."

Naruto was about to say something but Wang Wei stopped him and said, "Sorry about that, Ms. B. Janet. These kids, they act so rude sometimes."

"I know. Call me Bonne, by the way."

"Will do...And yes, we _are_ looking for help."

"What kind of help?"

"Well," said Wang Wei, deciding which information to hold back, before deciding to tell of the situation the way it is. "Naruto and I will set up a dojo in Hong Kong. We already had some help getting in new students, and the dojo itself just needs some renovating, but we need more help securing the place. I had to close it down once when too many students were attacked and a colleague of mine was killed--"

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Now I can provide a little money and some transportation but we are _not_ bodyguards."

Wang Wei raised his eyebrows, yet again. "But you said you could provide transportation, right?"

"Yes. What, you guys can't afford two plane tickets to Hong Kong?"

Wang Wei thought of giving her the reasons why _not_ to get plane tickets. But Naruto being Naruto, well...he seethed with anger at that remark, a low blow really, wanting to hit her for every word of it. He didn't care who she was, this Bonne--this rich, beautiful, influential blond-bombshell, or whoever she was; he would teach her a thing or two, if Wang Wei would let him. Then he thought of Lady Tsunade and how _that_ fight turned out. So he chose wisely, instead.

Naruto said, "_Maybe we could get you something in return_."

"And what's that? Trust me, kid, I'm hard to please."

"I'm not _Kid_, I am _NARUTO!_ N.A.R.U.T.O."

"Okay, okay! Calm down, Geez!"

Everybody's jaw dropped at this point. Dan Hibiki woke up and almost fell off his stool, then turned around and saw Bonne's table with her Knights, the dog and the two strangers, none of whom he knew. Then silence. Even Wang Wei was silent. Strike _four_ for Mr. Hachi, just short of an early heart attack, and blasphemy number freaking four for the costumers. Mr. Hachi looked at his watch, again. Twenty-five minutes left! They waited for Bonne Jennet's response, waited and prayed.

Then she stood up said, "All right, I'll help. But you need to do something for me," jabbing her finger into Naruto's chest.

"And what's that?"

"You need to give me this person," she said, pulling out a old photo of the illustrious Terry Bogard and showing it to Naruto, "or I won't help you."

Naruto picked up the photo and took in every detail of the person in it--the muscles; the muscle shirt; the sleeveless jacket; the denim jeans; the gloves; the hair; the face; the cap--and said, "I can give you him, no problem."

"Really?"

"Just watch me," and he yelled, "Transformation Jutsu!"

When the smoke cleared, Bonne's unrequited heartthrob was standing in front of her. Everybody was shocked, but none more so than she, who had vowed to be Terry's one-and-only love, by whatever means necessary; and, by heaven's grace or hell's bells, _now_ was her chance. Bonne walked toward him, despite being weak in the knees, placed a trembling hand on his cheek and stared into his dark blue eyes, raised herself on the balls of her feet to kiss him, and...she fainted into Naruto's arms!

Everyone in the inn stood up from their seats.

"Good GOO, y-y-you killed her!" said Mr. Hachi, going completely out of his mind before fainting himself, while Naruto lowered Bonne onto the floor, not sure what the hell he should do.

"She's not dead; she just fainted," said Wang Wei, not noticing that Mr. Hachi had fainted. "Does anyone know CPR?"

Dan said, "I know CPR," and lowered his head on Bonne's chest. A heartbeat. "She just needs air."

"Do you know how to give it to her?"

"Yeah," and Dan lowered himself to _give it_ but...but, "I can't, I'm too chicken. _You_ should do it." He was talking to Naruto. "Come on, man. This chick digs you."

"WHAT? I...There's no way!"

"Come on, all you have to do is put your mouth on hers and...You know."

Naruto didn't say anything, because he didn't want to choke. _Breathe, man, just breathe_, he thought to himself; and inhaling air into his lungs, he exhaled it into the Bonne's mouth. He felt the warmth of her soft lips and thought of how Sakura's might feel like. He inhaled and exhaled, again. Now he smelled her breath and thought of how Sakura's might smell like. He inhaled and exhaled, again. Now he tasted her tongue and thought of how Sakura's might taste like. He inhaled and exhaled, again. Now he looked into her eyes and thought of how Sakura's might look like up close. He inhaled and exhaled, again. Now he thought he heard something Sakura said, maybe something like, "Naruto, take me, take ME! I want you."

It was actually Bonne saying, "Naruto, get off, get OFF. I'm all right."

Snapping out of his fantasy, Naruto saw Bonne below him all red in the face and realized his transformation had dissolved. He looked around and saw everyone gaping at him, like they had seen the most graphic sex scene ever taped. When he got up, helping Bonne to her feet, Naruto felt like his underwear had shrunk a bit around his crotch. Thankfully, it wasn't too tight.

"Sorry about that. I just...went too far."

"Don't sweat it. You're clever, you know that? I mean cle-ver." Then she leaned over Naruto to perk him on the lips. "And you're a hell of a kisser, too. But don't let it go to your head." Too bad for Naruto, that wasn't all he got from her. He also got a kick to the balls that everybody winced at. "All right, I'll help you two out. It's the least I could do."

Naruto was about to _do_ something, but Wang Wei prevented him.

Then Dan said, "Um...Can I join, too?"

"Where're you headed?"

"To Hong Kong."

Bonne sighed. "All right, you're in." Then she saw Mr. Hachi still out cold on the floor. "Oh, and Naruto. Since you're such a good _kisser_, maybe you could help Hachi out."

Naruto was cupped his hands over his balls and, now holding onto Wang Wei, looked at her and willed her to go to Hell.

"Pretty please. I'll give you another smoochy-pie."

Yep--she was definitely getting on the boy's nerves. _Shove it up your ass, you BITCH!_

A/N: I know this took a long time to update, but I've been studying like hell lately in the seemingly futile attempt to get a passing score on the final exam. It starts on Wednesday next week. Anyway, Sagat and Dan Hibiki are from Street Fighter; Bonne Jennet and her Lillien Knights are from Fatal Fury. Also, have you guessed who the guy in black is? I've got this posted for your voyeuristic pleasure. Enjoy! And for God's sake, please review! I'm just a weary author STARVING for feedback! I am on my knees BEGGING the review gods and goddesses to turn my way and consider the humble work of my hands and my brain! Pleeeeeeease, I'm begging youuuu.........( T_T )


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